ICE’s Bakkt Delays Bitcoin Futures launch to January 2019

New York Stock Exchange’s digital asset platform called ‘Bakkt’, may not be entering the crypto market by this year. The Intercontinental Exchange(ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange(NYSE) announced the much-anticipated Bitcoin Futures product in August of this year.

However, in an announcement on Medium, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler extended on the statement saying the “volume of interest” in the company and the “work required to get all the pieces in place” attributed to the delay.

As of now, Kelly is working closely with the U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC) as they’ve started to review the Bakkt™ Bitcoin Daily Futures contract and the Bakkt Warehouse.

She also added:

“As is often true with product launches, there are new processes, risks and mitigants to test and re-test, and in the case of crypto, a new asset class to which these resources are being applied. So, it makes sense to adjust our timeline as we work with the industry toward launch.”

Bakkt Bitcoin Daily Futures Contract was scheduled to be launched on ICE Futures US on December 12, offering investors an opportunity to trade physically settled cryptocurrency futures product on a reputed and regulated mainstream exchange.

The company has now settled the date to January 24, 2019. Ensuring that the participants are ready to trade from the Day 1, both trading and warehouse operation are expected to start on the same date.

However, the new date is a subject to regulatory approval, pointing out that the platform has not yet received any approval.

The company also looks to provide more than bitcoin futures, Kelly hinted. She further mentioned in her post that the company is grasping on opportunities in their start-up phase to extend their offerings.

Bakkt is currently improving its product by working with giants like BCG, Microsoft and Starbucks. These companies are helping in the development of the product by assisting with the customer experience and risk management.

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee and a few other analysts had speculated that launch of Bakkt’s product in December, could help in catalyzing a year-end crypto market rally. Lee also predicted that the price of bitcoin could escalate to $15,000 going into next year.